Timeline of events.
September 9th 2002:Brian Rossiter (14) is assaulted on Cashel Street in Clonmel, sustaining two black eyes.
September 10th, 2002:He is arrested for a minor public order offence and taken to Clonmel Garda station. His father, Pat, signs a consent form to have him held overnight.
September 11th, 2002:Gardaí cannot wake him and he is taken by ambulance to St Joseph's Hospital in Clonmel, from where he is transferred to Cork University Hospital.
September 13th, 2002:A scan reveals a large extradural haematoma and he undergoes surgery for its removal but fails to regain consciousness.
He is pronounced dead at 5.40pm.
Spring 2003:Noel Hannigan (25), Cooleens Close, Clonmel, is charged with assault causing harm to Brian Rossiter on September 9th, 2003.
January 2004:The Rossiter family write to minister for justice Michael McDowell, setting out their belief that Brian's death may have resulted from an assault by a garda while in custody.
March 2004:Hannigan is charged with assault causing serious harm to Brian, and with his manslaughter, in addition to earlier charge of assault causing harm. It later emerges that these charges were preferred without the authorisation of the DPP.
June 2005:The charges against Hannigan of assault serious causing harm to Brian Rossiter, and manslaughter, are withdrawn by the State.
June 2005:Minister for justice Michael McDowell orders an inquiry into Brian Rossiter's death, to be conducted by senior counsel Hugh Hartnett
September 14th, 2005:Terms of reference for Hartnett inquiry published. Rossiter's parents, Pat and Siobhán, express concern that they are too narrow.
September 18th, 2005:Rossiters begin High Court proceedings against the State for the "wrongful death" of their son.
December 5th, 2005:Hartnett inquiry opens. It takes place in private.
June 27th, 2006:Hannigan pleads guilty to assaulting Brian Rossiter, causing him harm, on September 9th, 2003. Counsel for the State says no attempt is being made to attribute the death of Brian Rossiter to the assault inflicted by Hannigan.
November 6th, 2006:Hannigan is jailed for two-and-a-half years for assaulting Rossiter, causing him harm.
May 11th, 2007:An appeal by Hannigan against the sentence is dismissed by the Court of Criminal Appeal. It stresses the importance of stating that Hannigan had "nothing to do" with the death of the boy.
April 11th, 2008:Minister for Justice Brian Lenihan publishes a summary of the Hartnett report. It concludes Brian Rossiter was unlawfully detained but finds no evidence he was assaulted in custody.